spring
up over the military zone of defense were demolished in order to leave a
clear field of fire. The gates of the city were barred with heavy
palisades backed by sandbags, and neighboring streets also were
barricaded for fighting. Certain strategic streets were obstructed by
networks of barbed wire, and in others pits were dug to the depth of a
man's shoulders. The public buildings were barricaded with sandbags and
guarded with machine guns.

But while Paris was preparing for siege and assault the French staff
were concentrating their efforts on making a siege impossible by a
decisive stroke against the German advance.

Hardly had the Government left the city when tidings arrived that
instead of marching on Paris, General von Kluck had swung southeastward
toward the crossing of the Marne. This news was obtained by the allied
flying corps, which had made daring flights over the enemy's line.

CHAPTER XII

THE MARNE--GENERAL PLAN OF BATTLE FIELD

On September 4, 1914, the bugler of Destiny sounded the "Halt!" to the
retreat of the armies of the Allies from the Belgian frontier. The
marvelous fighting machine of the German armies, perhaps the most superb
organization of military potency that has been conceived by the mind of
man, seemed to reach its limit of range. Success had perched upon the
German eagles, and for two weeks there had been a steady succession of
victories. Nevertheless the British and French armies were not crushed.
They were overwhelmed, they were overpowered, and, under stern military
necessity, they were forced to fall back.

Day after day, under the swinging hammer-head blows of the German drive,
the flower of the forces of the Allies had been compelled to break. A
little less generalship on the part of the defenders, or a little more
recklessness behind that smashing offensive might have turned this
retirement into a rout. Even as it was, the official dispatches reveal
that, while occasional and local retirements had been considered, such a
sweeping retreat was far from contemplated by Generals Joffre and
French. German official dispatches bear testimony to the intrepid
character of the defenders sullenly falling back and contesting every
inch of the way, as much as they do to the daring and the vivid bravery
of the German attackers who hurled themselves steadily, day after day,
upon positions hastily taken up in the retreat where the retirement
could be partly repaid by the heavie